The Braves took a five game winning streak into their series against the Phillies last weekend. Those five wins tied their longest streak of the season, and it was only the third time this year they strung more than three wins together. The streak poised the Braves to make a serious move up the standings in the NL East, but Ryan Howard smited them with thunderbolts, like a Greek god reminding humanity that there is a hierarchy to this world; and everyone falls prey to it.
Howard went 4 for 10 in the series, batted in 6 runs, and hit 3 home runs. For the year, he's batting .266, with 31 home runs and 94 RBI's. The Braves RBI leader is Brian McCann, with 61, and Chipper Jones leads the team with 15 home runs. If McCann played for the Phillies, he would be tied for fifth on the team in RBI's with Pedro Feliz. The same would also be true of Chipper and his 15 home runs if he wore a white "P" on his hat. The Phillies are clearly the here and now of the NL East, the Olympians of their division, and the Braves, the Titans, are a shell of a former dynasty that is no longer intimidating nor relevant.
In the third game of the series, when Howard came to the plate in the top of the 6th, the score was tied at one run apiece. Rollins was on second, and Victorino was on first. There was one out, and Drunk Noah floated an Ark of a change-up to Howard, who with one swing of his bat splintered the Braves chances for survival. There was no rainbow after the game, only more rain.
Since the Phillies series, the Braves have won two out of three, including a 15 to 2 win against the Mets last night, but without an Olympic-sized bat in their lineup, the Braves seem relegated to the vulture's peck.
